Thursday – Feast of St. Mary Magdalene

Gospel – John 20:1-2, 11-18

A Rollercoaster of Emotions

Mary Magdalene, at Magdala

I am recalling a quote from Bishop Barron I’ve cited before– every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.  There is no better example than Mary Magdalene whose feast we celebrate today.  Tradition holds her to be a former prostitute, probably the one who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair and whom Jesus forgave and told to sin no more.  She was a faithful disciple of Jesus. And today’s Gospel portrays her at the tomb on Easter Sunday morning. 

Consider this – she is the first witness to Jesus’ Resurrection – not Peter, not John, not even Mary His Mother.  She is the first Evangelist – she is the first to proclaim the Good News that Jesus is risen from the dead!

Consider also the all too painful range of emotions she experiences.  The utter grief and despair as she finds the stone rolled away and the tomb completely empty.  Who stole Jesus’ body and where have they taken Him?  And then the unbridled joy and happiness when Jesus reveals Himself to her, her all too human desire to hug Him out of relief that He is risen. Such a rollercoaster of emotions!

In this time of uncertainty and worry, we have all had our share of conflicting emotions – sadness over the separation from loved ones, grief from the passing of a family member and the sheer gut-wrenching agony of not being there to hug them, comfort them.  And lately hopefully that joy of reuniting with them, hugging them, crying with them, holding their hands and sharing a smile! 

Mary Magdalene experienced that whole range of emotions and yet through all the ups and downs of life, joy and sorrow,  she still kept the faith.  And that is what we pray for today – the strength to see the Risen Jesus, the courage to keep the faith, and the wisdom to feel joy even in the midst of sorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Saturday – St. Boniface      (revisited) Mark 12:38-44 Simple Gifts Praying at the Wailing Wall It looks like we are finally coming out of the darkness!   Lights are turning on; businesses are opening!   Definitely more cars on the street (not sure if that is a good thing or not)!   Dining out, going to the movies, morning coffee at the Perk, even a date night looks promising! But let’s not forget about all that we have endured to get to this point.   All those months of making do with what we have, limiting our trips to the store and our contact with others!   But, to be truthful, we really had a lot of time on our hands, time to think about what I have, what I want and what I really need.   It’s been an opportunity to consider what’s really important in our lives and what things we can just discard.   Besides all the house-cleaning top to bottom and the sorting out of all the stuff we have accumulated over the years, it has been a time to really appreciate all we ha
Read more
Image
Tuesday – 8 th Week of Ordinary Time Gospel – Mark10:28-31 Sacrifice! Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem   My Dad began working in a little country store at the age of 16 and retired from that same store over 50 years later.   It was part gas station, part ice cream stand, part deli and liquor store, post office, supermarket and local gathering spot.   After hours, it was also home for a long string of brotherly games of poker.   During all those 50 some years, my Dad ran the store on his own, hardly ever took a vacation, and worked roughly from 5 in the morning to 10 at night, at least 6 days a week.   During the school year we basically say him only at dinnertime for about an hour.   In the last 10 years of the store’s existence, he was also doing double-duty as the postmaster.   And yet in spite of all the hardships, somehow out of that tiny little store, he managed to put all four of his children through high school and college.   I have yet to figure out how he managed to accomp
Read more
Image
  Monday – Feast of Mary Mother of the Church Gospel – John19:25-34 Help Me, Mom! Church of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem I remember when I moved into my first apartment.   Truth be told, I was completely clueless about keeping a clean space, much less knowing how to live (and cook) on my own.   It was my mom who got everything neat and tidy with a massive cleaning effort.   And it was my Mom who really took care of washing clothes whenever I brought them home.   I learned, little by little; but it took the example of my mom to show me the way. Can anyone even count, much less remember, all the times our mothers have come to our aid when we needed it.   Caring for us when we was sick, helping us with that difficult math homework, supporting us when we moved away from home, listening to us when life got difficult, protecting us when I fell and skinned our knee.   Most of the time, it was a dirty, thankless job but she did it anyway and she never looked for thanks or recognit
Read more